Tag Archives: Google

Facebook Can’t Find Local News For Local News Project As Hundreds Of Newspapers Have Folded Nationwide

Axios reports: Facebook wants to deliver more local news, but there aren’t enough local news outlets across the U.S. to do so, according to research the platform released Monday morning in conjunction with four academic researchers. Facebook and rival Google have shouldered blame for creating local news deserts by upending the business models of small, local newspapers. Now, the tech …

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls For Breaking Up Big Tech: I Will End Google, Facebook, And Amazon’s Monopolies

From Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s post on Medium: Twenty-five years ago, Facebook, Google, and Amazon didn’t exist. Now they are among the most valuable and well-known companies in the world. It’s a great story — but also one that highlights why the government must break up monopolies and promote competitive markets. I want a government that makes sure everybody — even the biggest and most …

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Senate Questions Google Over Hidden Mic In Device

Next Gov reports: Google failed to mention that there’s a microphone inside its Nest Secure home device product and three Senate Republicans say Americans need to know more. Nest owners were caught by surprise earlier this month, when the company announced on its Twitter that users could activate a microphone within the Nest that would enable new features. Though the …

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YouTube Stops Promoting Conspiracy Theory Videos

Forbes reports: In an official blog post published January 25th about YouTube’s changes to its recommendation algorithm, the Google-owned company announced they would be cracking down on conspiracy-laden videos and other “borderline content”… by ceasing to list them in the “Up Next” sidebar. Examples listed of content no longer being recommended included 9/11 truther documentaries, flat earth conspiracy videos and …

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YouTube Bans Dangerous Pranks And Challenges

Mashable reports: YouTube has toughened its stance on dangerous pranks and challenges. While silly antics are a prevalent part of the video platform’s culture, a spate of troubling incidents from the Bird Box challenge, the fire challenge, and the Tide Pod challenge has spurred YouTube into action. YouTube has unveiled updated community guidelines for creators, with a new section on …

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Google Battles “Right To Be Forgotten” In EU Court

Bloomberg reports: Google’s battle against French proponents of a worldwide “right to be forgotten” enters a decisive phase at the European Union’s top court on Thursday, in a case that highlights the growing tensions between privacy, freedom of speech and state censorship. Ahead of a ruling later this year, an adviser at the EU Court of Justice will on Jan. …

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Google To Spend $1B On New West Village Campus

Talking Points Memo reports: Google today is announcing plans to invest over $1 billion in capital improvements to create a new 1.7-million-square-foot campus in Lower Manhattan, dubbed “Google Hudson Square.” As part of the New York City expansion, Google and Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in a blog post out this morning that the company “will have the …

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LIVE VIDEO: Google CEO Testifies On User Privacy, GOP Chairman Opens With Claims Of Anti-Conservative Bias

Mediaite reports: In recent months, Silicon Valley’s major players have visited Congress for various hearings on matters related to data gathering. Tuesday, it’s Google CEO Sundar Pichai‘s turn in the hot seat. The Google chief sits before the House Judiciary Committee to offer testimony for a hearing titled: “Transparency and Accountability: Examining Google and its Data Collection, Use and Filtering …

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Google Plans Massive West Village Expansion [VIDEO]

The Wall Street Journal reports: Google is gearing up for an expansion of its New York City real estate that could add space for more than 12,000 new workers, an amount nearly double the search giant’s current staffing in the city, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, would give Google room for …

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Google Withdraws From Pentagon Cloud Bid Over Concerns It Could Be Used To Violate Human Rights

Axios reports: Google announced Monday it won’t bid on the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract because of concerns the work wouldn’t align with its artificial intelligence ethical principles, which hold that its software shouldn’t be used to cause harm to people or violate human rights. Google has lately faced a series of conflicts between those ethical principles and major business …

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Google+ To Shut Down After Privacy Bug [VIDEO]

The Wall Street Journal reports: Google exposed the private data of hundreds of thousands of users of the Google+ social network and then opted not to disclose the issue this past spring, in part because of fears that doing so would draw regulatory scrutiny and cause reputational damage, according to people briefed on the incident and documents reviewed by The …

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Google: Hackers Targeted Gmail Accounts Of Senators

Gosh, who could it have been? CNN reports: The personal Gmail accounts of an unspecified number of US senators and Senate staff have been targeted by foreign government hackers, a Google spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Thursday. On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote in a letter to Senate leadership that his office had learned that “at least …

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GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch Sics The FTC On Google

The Hill reports: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether Google’s search and digital advertising practices are stifling the marketplace. Hatch sent a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons expressing concern about reports in recent years ranging from Google restricting competing advertising services to collecting data from users’ Gmail inbox contents. “Needless …

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Trump Complains That “Biased” Google Promoted Obama’s SOTU Addresses, Didn’t Promote His [VIDEO]

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump is going all in with his attacks on Google. Wednesday afternoon on Twitter, the president posted a video in which he accused the tech behemoth of tipping the scale by promoting former President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union speeches on their homepage — and then ceasing the practice during the Trump administration. Along with …

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Larry Kudlow: We’re Looking At Regulating Google

Politico reports: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the Trump administration is “taking a look” at imposing regulations on Google following the president’s tweet Tuesday morning accusing the search giant of favoring news outlets critical of him in search results. Trump tweeted early Tuesday morning that Google’s search results only show reporting from what he labeled the …

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Trump Threatens Google Over “Rigged” Search Results

The Verge reports: The perceived leftwing bias of big tech companies has become a major talking point for conservatives. And this morning on Twitter, President Trump escalated their claims. Trump suggested that not only was there a tendency for tech companies to suppress right-wing voices, but that Google has “rigged” its search results to only show negative reporting about him. …

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Google Launches “Good News Only” Feature [VIDEO]

The Hill reports: Google is rolling out a feature that allows users to hear positive news stories on command, a feature developed in conjunction with a journalism group focusing on combating negative news fatigue. The feature, announced this week in a blog post, will exist on Google Assistant devices and will play a randomly selected positive news story focusing on …

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HAT TRICK: YouTube Bans Primary Alex Jones Channel

NBC News reports: YouTube has removed Alex Jones’ page, following bans earlier Monday from Apple and Facebook. The Alex Jones Channel, which counts 2.4 million subscribers, still appeared in YouTube search results by midday Monday, but presented only a take-down notice when users clicked in. “This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines,” the notice says. YouTube counts …

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Trump Blasts EU For Fining “Great Company” Google

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump said Thursday that the European Union’s antitrust ruling against Google is proof that it is taking “advantage of the U.S.” On Wednesday, the EU hit Google with a $5 billion fine, alleging the company had violated antitrust laws by bundling its apps like Chrome and Google Play with its Android operating system. Google has 90 …

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EU Smacks Google With Record $5B Antitrust Fine

The New York Times reports: Google was hit with a $5.1 billion fine by European antitrust officials on Wednesday for abusing its power in the smartphone market, in the region’s latest move to rein in the clout of American tech companies. The penalty of 4.34 billion euros was a record, and far larger than the €2.4 billion, or about $2.8 …

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